Fish Tank Water

Have a (fresh water) fish? Next time you are refreshing its water, consider pouring the old stuff over some of your plants. It's full of nitrogen and other nutrients your plants thrive on, which makes it a great fertilizer without the extra chemicals or environmental impact.

To learn more, see Aquarium Water as Houseplant Fertilizer or other similar online articles.

Garden update

Here's an updated picture of my garden.

I've finally pulled out all the broccoli and lettuce plants which I was growing out and season (and, thus, were not edible).

Between crops (after you've pulled up one crop and before you plant one for the next season), give the soil a week or two off. If you've compacted your bed by walking on it or otherwise putting weight on it, use this time to cultivate the soil by stirring it up a bit. This allows the all-so-essential oxygen to get into the spaces between the soil particles again.

Also, always, always, always add some sort of fertilizer to the soil between crops. The vegetables you've been eating contain a lot of the nutrients that were previously in the soil. You can't continually take from the soil without giving back, or else you will end up with poor soil quite quickly. The best fertilizer you can add is fresh compost (that you're making yourself now, right?)

After loosening your soil and adding some fertilizer, you're ready to plant next season's edibles!

Conversely, if you are not going to plant another crop for a few months, consider using a "green manure." Green manures are basically cover crops, like clovers or vetches, that give you two advantages. First, they block weeds from growing, which helps to keep your bed in great shape between crops. Second, green manure is a type of fertilizer. You simply turn it under before it flowers and it adds all its rich nutrients back into the soil.